


Sunrise

by ohbeautifuldelilah



Category: Day6 (Band), K-pop, Oh My Girl (Band)
Genre: F/M, Kpop fanfiction - Freeform, day 6 fanfiction, oh my girl fanfiction, sunrise, youngmi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:57:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18481423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohbeautifuldelilah/pseuds/ohbeautifuldelilah
Summary: "This song is dedicated to the girl I met not long ago." he said, voice level even after all that singing. "Our story was about all the chances we missed and the odds we defied. In a sea of people, our souls still found each other." he tried to search for her face but the strobe lights were too much even for his 20/20 vision. "Wherever you are, I am thinking of you, still, always."And the bass line struck.





	1. Day 110: Awake at 3am

“Mimi? Hello, earth to Kim Mihyun?” Hyojung threw a piece of crumpled scratch paper towards her—falling straight on the blonde girl’s lap.

“Wha-“ she flinches, startled by the soft thump of her roommate’s fifth attempt at physics. “Hey, your trajectory’s not bad for someone struggling with vectors.” she quips, unfurling the paper to see scribbles of equations and, unsurprisingly, doodles.

“Oh please, you know I’ve got the arm of a pitcher. Besides,” the redhead lightens up at the prospect of changing the subject. “Your focus is extremely off tangent for someone who has her first mid-terms tomorrow on, what was it again?”

Mimi humors her.

“Advanced Geometry and Building Design, yeah enough with the puns, Hyojung.” she glances at her friend, sighing. “You know how I get when I study for too long.”

Of course Hyojung would know. She’s been Mimi’s friend since middle school—there’s no secrets between them. That is to say, Hyojung definitely knew this wasn’t her usual spacing-out-because-I’m-tired-of-studying episode.

“Of course I know,” she props herself on her elbows, fingers steepled under her chin. If she had spoken in a higher pitch, Mimi didn’t notice. “In fact,” she starts, eager to know what her friend’s reaction would be. After all, if her assumptions were right—and they almost always were—Mimi would flat-out deny her claim, while blushing endlessly. “I know all about what you’re spacing out for. Or should I say, who you’re spacing out for?” she finishes, a smirk playing on her lips.

From her place by the table, Mimi knew her blush couldn’t possibly be perceptible from across the room. But she also knew Hyojung had unfaltering 20/20 vision and who was she kidding? She was as red as a tomato and her white wool sweater wasn’t helping. “W-what… I…” she stammers.

Busted.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She swivels back to face her textbooks, numbers and polygons attacking her from all angles.

"Whatever you say, Mimi." Thoroughly given up, Hyojung smiles to herself at her almost-victory and proceeds to turn off the light at her side of the bedroom.  "Goodnight, don't stay up too late." she says, before tucking herself in, not seeing the way Mimi turned to look at her, smiling.

For all of Hyojung's teasing, she was a good friend and clearly she was just revelling in the obvious situation that Mimi was developing something for this guy. It was clear as day: she couldn't focus on her geometry notes for the past hour now, her work on roof and truss design was only 50% done, and she had yet to fix her side of the bedroom **—** things that would only add up if she was distracted by something or, in this case, someone.

And it couldn't possibly be her or their other friends, she had good relations with her other classmates and professors and as far as she knew, there was nothing going on with her family. No, it had to be an outlier. An outsider.

And then almost immediately, Hyojung knew. She could feel the gears in her head turning, it was that guy.

* * *

_A note from the universe: Hyojung was the first to call it, the first to realize it even before the two of them did; and had she not slept early that night, she would have gotten the confirmation she needed. There, on the top of her notebook was Mimi's clean, cursive handwriting: "I wouldn't miss it."_

* * *

The guy who, unbeknowst to Hyojung, told Mimi: _"It would be great if you could come."_


	2. Day 249: Off the Record

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She reaches for the photo and lifts it in front of her, until she’s face to face with her newest assignment. “Who exactly are we trying to expose here?”
> 
> “For now? Kang Younghyun, Business Administration and Management—the bassist of that band who won last year’s University Fest.” he says, voice monotonous. “But in the long-term? Kim Mihyun, Architecture—the bitch who almost exposed us to the Administration."

Yoojin turned around to face their newest recruit, a twenty two-year old female named Choi Jinhee. As his chair swivelled around, a single photo of two people arm in arm, poised between his index and middle finger, came into view. “Jinhee, was it?” he asked.

“Yes.” she all but stammers. “Choi Jinhee.”

“Do you know what this is?” he asks plainly, placing the single, wallet-sized photograph on the table. She doesn’t respond immediately, taken aback by the textbook-invasion-of-privacy he just presented to her. But she hazards a guess.

“The scoop of our latest article?” she trails off, voice floating, unsure. Beneath his eye-level view, Yoojin didn’t see that she had steepled her fingers together, her fingertips digging at the back of her hands.

“Well, you’re not wrong.” he laughs. Tilting her head, she seems to be far from being what he hoped would’ve been interested with the topic of the conversation. Better yet, she’s already confused.

“Listen, just calm down, I’m just doing a routine interview and you just so happened to fall upon a good day for us.” he squares his shoulders and gestures defensively, hands in front of him. The last thing he wants is to make her uninterested with the case. “This, Ms. Choi,” he begins, inching forward towards her. “Is known as a double pill: a takedown-couple article.” he smirks.

“A takedown-couple… article?” she repeats, a hundred percent sure she has never heard of that term in the few years she’s had studying journalism. “As in…?”

“I can see I’ll have to spell everything out for you,” he mutters under his breath but she catches it nonetheless. “‘Couple’ as in exposing at least one couple involved, not necessarily the one in the photo and ‘takedown’ as in, to put it bluntly, destroying the reputation of all parties involved.” he says in one go, stressing the words “at least,” “bluntly,” and “all.”

“But isn’t this?” she starts, about to protest against what she considers to be the bane of journalism itself—gossip. But his hazed and cold look rendered her silent.

“It’s what keeps this magazine going. And if you like your job, it's what will keep you staying.” he answers candidly, as though he didn’t just figuratively threaten her job or condone destructive gossip articles like this—as though they were all but discussing the weather. “Okay?” his two-syllable question was definitely the final one before she could either grab the case that’ll pave her career at Dispatcher, or lose her job her with all certainty.

“Okay, yes. What do you need me to do?” she looks at him, point-blank. Her eyes were void of the anxiety threatening to break through minutes ago and her lips weren’t quivering anymore. Damn rationality, she needs this internship right now. She needs it to stay in school, to keep herself afloat. She’ll do this without guilt, because she _needs_ to. 

“For now, just track these two people and record—photograph, tape, the whole works—everything. As simple as that.” he finally eases, and returns back to his starting position of lounging on the high-back leather swivel chair. “Questions?”

She’s thinking.

“Just one,” she reaches for the photo and lifts it in front of her, until she’s face to face with her newest assignment. “Who exactly are we trying to expose here?”

“For now? Kang Younghyun, Business Administration and Management—the bassist of that band who won last year’s University Fest.” he says, voice monotonous. “But in the long-term? Kim Mihyun, Architecture—the bitch who almost exposed us to the Administration.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews would be greatly appreciated! :)


	3. Day 4: Orientation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was from the School of Business Administration. She was from the School of Architecture. His event registration number was #00021. Hers was #00492.

It starts like this: they are paired together during the freshman orientation, as buddies for the campus tour. It isn’t because their names follow each other alphabetically or that they’re seated near each other during the opening remarks. Instead, it was because the RA assigned to pick the first fifteen pairs picked out their registration numbers together. The campus tour that year was different—aside from being a university-wide event wherein all freshmen from all departments participated simultaneously, there were games and activities to be played while inside the buildings as well as before moving to the next location. That said, the facilitators thought up a way to pair the students in such a way that would help them “widen their circle”—by drawing lots from two different college departments.

He was from the School of Business Administration. She was from the School of Architecture. His event registration number was #00021. Hers was #00492.

* * *

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” he asks, his voice a blend between low and soft, washing over her senses. It didn’t help that when she looked up, the face perfectly matched the voice. A boy—no, a man—with a cross earring and light chestnut hair greeted her, with the most distinct glint in his eyes. “Uh no, go ahead.” she starts, gesturing for the monobloc beside her. They were seated at the back, close enough to hear what the speaker was saying but far enough to not be recognised in case they would look for volunteers in the audience.

They sat in comfortable silence until he first broke the ice. “So, what’s your major?” he looked at her as he asks, the cross earring glinting as he turned. “I’m taking up Architecture, under the College of Architecture, obviously.” her smile radiates, he thinks, as he wonders how she could possibly be studying Architecture when she looks like an actress or at the very least, a dancer. “You?” he misses her question the first time, as he was busy wondering about her. The second time she asks, she was looking straight at him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he shakes his head, startled.

“I was asking about your major.” she smiles again, not missing a beat. “Oh, right,” he lifts up a brochure from his college. “Business Administration and Management.” he says, and thinks they couldn’t be further apart in terms of studies, much less home colleges. Then again, why should he be worrying about that? He chastises himself for getting ahead, and continues making small talk. They pass the time by sharing their interests in music and how they ended up in Seoul University when they both came from the provinces.

“It’s the premier university,” she says, as though that reason was obvious. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to live independently. Gangwondo’s beautiful but there’s just something about the city that makes me want to be adventurous for once.” 

Hold up, Gangwondo?

“Wait, you’re from Gangwondo?” he asks immediately, slightly surprised at himself for asking so informally. “I mean, it’s just, I’m also from Gangwondo.” he backpedals, to no avail. She’s already chuckling at his slightly panicked expression. He only notices now that her smile is one of those cute, gummy smiles. Wait, did he say gummy? I mean, her gums did show when she smiles but did he also say cute? And good lord, is he staring?

“Hello? Are you still there?” she’s waving her hand in front of him as he’s coming back from his reverie. He has to stop finding things to admire about this girl. She’s just a random stranger—who happens to be so nice it’s almost impossible to hold a conversation without using honorifics. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I was just thinking.” 

“About your hometown?”

And there was the answer he should’ve said. But he forgets about that, stores it away for another time when she and him are close enough to open up to each other like that. For now, he just wants this conversation about Seoul University and living independently.

“No, I was…” he’s looking at her now, straight into her pure brown eyes. “I was just wondering how you’re finding it here? I’ve been living in the city for a while so I’ve adjusted to the environment. Even gotten around to memorising this campus.” he answers, looking away and gesturing to the surrounding plaza, until all the way to the archway of the University.

“Oh, well, it’s definitely beautiful, that’s for sure. Although I’ve yet to meet my dorm-mates, the few personnel I’ve talked to seemed nice.” her smile is almost like a reflection of her voice, warm and husky, he could listen to her tell him about her moving-in day for hours. “The RA’s were very accommodating when we were settling in, and there was this guard who helped me find my way back to the dorm.”

“So you don’t have that many friends yet, huh?” he asks, surprised at how she could possibly not have any when she’s extremely approachable, not to mention, extremely well-mannered. “Well, not really, I’ve met you, right?” she answers, laughing. And he’s half stunned, half amused. But she immediately says, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, you could treat us as acquaintances if it’s awkward to be calling someone you just met as a friend.” He flinches, she’s probably thinking that he was opposed to the idea—which, of course, was far from the truth.

“No, that’s great, I also don’t have that many friends.” he cringes immediately, embarrassed at what he just said. “Wow, that sounded even more inane than when I was thinking it. Forget I said that, now I just look desperate to be friends.” he couldn’t look at her, for fear she would be frowning at his rambling. “No, it’s fine,” she’s quick to supply, smiling still. “If anything, I have a feeling we’ll be meeting more often.” she laughs, hand outstretched. 

He knows she’s just asking for a handshake but by god, if he touches her hand, he’ll probably be electrocuted with something akin to a god’s thunderbolt. So he just encases her fingers in his palm softly, shaking her hand slowly. They both were too preoccupied looking at each other to hear the RA at the stage the first time.

The second time, they had everyone looking at them. Apparently, it was the same RA who had helped both of them move into their own dorms—who just so happened to have a photographic memory (or something).

“You two, at the back! Number 00021 and 00492!” she calls, and they turn their heads towards the stage, flinching at the amount of people looking at them. “Get up here, you’re the next pair for the A group! Get your information packets at the desk, come on now.” she says again, and it’s a miracle they both managed to walk up the stage without tripping. Laughing, they got down and looked at their packets.

“Would you look at that, 00021, who knew we’d be partnered together?” she says, putting the lace of the info packet around her neck, like an ID. “Good thing I had that feeling we’ll be meeting more often.”

“You mean good thing I patted you after that handshake, or else I would be walking up the stage alone.” he laughs, folding his Business Administration and Management brochure into the transparent plastic case of the info packet.

“That’s true,” she blushes, embarrassed with the fact that she almost forgot to react to her own registration number. “I’ll tell you what,”

(If she was being honest though, the feel of his hand on hers made her lose all rational thought at that moment.)

“The next time we meet, I’ll thank you for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews would be greatly appreciated! If you liked this, do drop a kudos to let me know!


	4. Day 42: Two Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wasn’t mistaken with that blonde hair and striking side profile, her lopsided smile was almost a trademark. “Mimi-sshi?”
> 
> And then the esquisse was completely forgotten.

They don’t meet for another month. She’s running late for her esquisse, T-square and canister in tow, hair disheveled and shirt tucked out, when he bumps into her. The impact renders Mimi to the pavement, on her knees, while he stands taken aback, somewhat stunned. “I’m sorry,” he starts. “Are you alright?” His hand is already outstretched. As soon as she’s got her things over her shoulder, she answers, “Yeah, no, it’s fine.” Dusting off the dirt from her pants, she reaches for his hand, not once looking up. “Thank you,” her voice was out of breath but was soft, like a breeze that passed you by. AS she lets go, he catches a glimpse of her face when she turned around. He wasn’t mistaken with that blonde hair and striking side profile, her lopsided smile was almost a trademark. “Mimi-sshi?”

And then the esquisse was completely forgotten.

Turning back around, she sets her eyes on his, startled at seeing the familiar glint of his eyesmile. “Young K-sshi…?” she breathes, unbelieving of her luck. Just when she has the first exam of the semester, she runs into the guy she promised she’d pay back the next time they meet. Guess she’ll have to make that into another next time.

“Hi, sorry I bumped into you like that. I wasn’t looking where I was—” he pockets his hands, apologetic. At least that makes one of them.

“No, it’s fine. Listen,” she says in a breath, wanting to break it to him immediately. “Sorry, I’m in a hurry, I’ve got an exam in a few minutes and I—” it was his turn to interrupt. “Don’t worry about it, you’re talking about last time, right? It’s fine, if anything, I’m sorry for keeping you.” He says, not once breaking eye contact. His cross earring glistens in the afternoon sunlight as he tilts his way towards her. 

_(Damn it, he’s endearing.)_

“Next time, I promise.” She says, smiling. They share a look for a moment and he swears the next time they see each other, he’ll ask for her number. “I’ll hold you to that,” his voice fades away as she sprints off, surprisingly eager. There was a spring in her step that wasn’t there before.

* * *

 

He walks back to the dorm slowly, recounting the day’s events. He wakes up earlier than the alarm, manages to squeeze in a few hours of jogging before his first class, passes his oral exam, and runs into Mimi before meeting up with Jae and Wonpil. He stops his train of thought there. Those two had quite a lot to say about his second chance meeting with the blonde.

“So you got her number this time?” Jae asks over his bibimbap. Of course he would be interested if he had managed to get her number or not. Leave it to his childhood friend to know where his weaknesses lie. “No, I didn’t.” he draws out the “no,” emphasising his desire to drop the subject. “Why are we even talking about this? Isn’t this your first meal after that Comp. Sci. Overnight?” He asks, feigning concern. “We’re asking because she seems like a nice girl,” Wonpil looks him in the eye, stopping before taking a spoonful of his kimchi jjigae. “But yes, it is our first meal, thank you for the concern.” Jae finishes with air quotes. Young K scoffs, looking away. He doesn’t say he feels sorry for denying them the details, but it’s not like there’s really anything to say. Mimi left as soon as he could make conversation and that was that.

“Yo, are you okay? You’re spacing out.” Jae’s voice brings him back out of his reverie. “Come on, don’t tell me you’re still bummed she didn’t talk to you?”

He does a double take. “What? I don’t remember telling you anything.” He confesses, giving himself away. “So she did ignore you!” Wonpil almost shouts, earning the glares of those from the neighboring tables. Young K is quick to remedy the situation, it would be difficult if they blow this out of proportion. He’d never live it down. “Wait, what? No, she didn’t, she just—” he sighs, frustrated. “First off, she didn’t ignore me. Second of all, how did you get to that assumption?” He tries to reply slowly, but he wanted to explain as fast as possible, lest they misinterpret his words. 

Jae smirks a bit under his spoonful of bibimbap, as though he knows something he doesn’t. He waits until he swallows his spoonful before replying, not missing the way Young K is at the edge of his seat seeing him taking his time chewing. “You sighed when you sat down.” He steepled his fingers under his chin, talking formally. If Wonpil was surprised, he didn’t show it. In fact, he kept on eating his soup while listening intently to Jae uncover his deductions. 

“You passed your orals, woke up before your alarm, and had time to jog—you were in a good mood this morning for sure. But what is this?” he asks rhetorically, gesturing to Young K’s lacking facial expression and pocketed hands. “You’re not as excited in meeting us as you are usually—” he interrupts him here. “But I’m not even—” Jae lifts up a hand. “Silence grasshopper, your sunbae is talking.” Sunbae where? Sure you’re older, but if you’re talking about experience, we’re pretty much at par with each other. He thinks grimly, letting Jae finish his sentence. 

“Thank you. Now, there’s definitely something that happened from the time you finished your orals until now otherwise you would be ordering your favorite jjajangmyeon. And what else could it be besides a girl with blonde hair and a gummy smile?” He looks to Wonpil for effect. But Wonpil answers just as he’s mouthing the words. “Mimi?”

And Jae is cued to look back at Young K, ending his Sherlock Holmes monologue. Young K stares, mouth slightly agape.

“Are you sure about taking up political science?” he sighs, ruffling his hair. “Well, you’re right about one thing. I did meet her. But she didn’t ignore me. She was late for an exam, so she had to leave first.” He tries to say it as nonchalantly as possible, but he comes on as slightly forlorn. “You’ve got it bad.” Wonpil says, finishing his last spoonful of the spicy soup.

“What do you mean? We just met for the second time!” He finally gestures with his hands, on the defensive. “And yet you’ve been thinking about her. You’re waiting for the next time you meet, you couldn’t stop talking about ‘the girl from orientation.’ Tell me I’m wrong.” Jae also finishes his bibimbap, clinking the spoon on the charcoal black bowl. “I’m not going to say anything because you might take it as me agreeing.” 

“I’ll take it you agree?” Jae finally says and Wonpil has the urge to laugh at Young K’s frown.

Before he realised it, he was already at his residence hall’s main entrance, his hands just about to turn the doorknob. He sighs.

Looking back, he thinks he should’ve at least said something. I mean, Jae made it sound like he’s been daydreaming about her—which isn’t true, of course. If he’s being completely honest, it’s just a crush.

That’s right, just a crush.

And yet, he would’ve waited for her exam to be over if only to ask her how it went.

And yet, he feels like he wants to get to know her, more than the basic profile questions, more than being a student at Seoul University. He just wants to know her more.

He closes the door behind him, a sense of finality washing over his senses—that’s it, the next time they meet, he’ll make it last longer than two minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are greatly appreciated! If you like this chapter, do leave a kudos to let me know!


	5. Day 63: Caffeine Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next they meet isn't exactly what he had in mind.

The next time they meet isn’t exactly what he had in mind.

He’s at a coffee shop and it just so happens to be where she’s working part time. He enters after the familiar “ding” of the door chime, looking like a good afternoon with his cream sweater and dark black pants, holding a book in one hand and his earphones in the other. She’s almost star struck except she’s embarrassed to take his order knowing how she practically ran away from him the last time. But all the other cashiers are taking a break and with the slow moving time of three o’clock, he’s practically the only customer there. His strides are slow (or at least, they seem so) and he only looks up as soon as he reaches the counter. He sees her and smiles.

Great. There goes her opening customer spiel.

“Good afternoon,” she manages, nearly forgetting the rest of her sentence. “Welcome to Seoul U’s best coffeehouse, what can I get you?” He’s almost laughing but at the look of her sincere smile, he relents for a smirk. “I’ll have a cappuccino, with the day’s special pastry, the...?” he trails off, looking for the blackboard with the day’s special. “The blueberry cupcake with white chocolate chips?” she supplies, pointing to the board right in front of him. “Yes, that one.” he smiles, nonchalant. “That would be 5000 won,” after she inputs his order, she stretches out her hand (she does that often around him, she finds) for his payment. 

He takes his time lining up the bills on her palm, counting them as he does so. “There,” he’s no doubt trying to prolong their conversation, or lack thereof. “I’ve received 5000 won, here’s your receipt, please wait for the buzzer to light up.” she hands him the receipt, the quick brush of his fingers on hers sends an electric jolt through her arm. “What name would you like to be called for the cappuccino?” she asks, wondering why she has to go through all this protocol when she knows his name already. 

“Young K,” he says, voice low all of a sudden. She doesn’t notice how he’s almost leaning towards her, arms pressing itself lightly on the counter. She’s a step back from the cash register, writing his name on the copy of the order, and repeats his name for clarification. “Okay, please wait a while for your order.” and she points him to the rest of the (nearly empty) coffeehouse for a seat. “Great, thanks.” he nods, slowly taking his book, buzzer and earphones. Yet again, they look at each other for a moment, until he walks away towards one of the Chesterfield sofas, sitting right at the middle. She doesn’t wait for him to settle down before she processes his order, plating the cupcake and blending the cappuccino.

She didn’t notice him quietly staring at her the whole time she was preparing his order, with her eyes intent on pouring the brew as carefully as possible, and lining the teaspoon as cleanly on the tray as she could, she missed the way he smiled at her meticulousness. She presses his buzzer number, and says, “One cappuccino with the day’s special for Young K!” thankfully in her usual voice, with no lilt or off-pitch inclination. In a minute he’s walking up to her and it was only then she realised the few centimetres of height between them. “Here you go,” she supplies, not sure why she felt the urge to say that. “Thanks,” he says informally, and walks back to his seat, hands firmly grasping the tray.

The rest of her shift passes by uneventful, with just one customer following after Young K. She’s at the locker room, dressing down into her normal clothes when she realises that she still hasn’t officially thanked him. She decides on buying him another pastry or coffee when she sees the Chesterfield sofa empty of his light brown hair and tall figure.

She walks outside, dejected that the “next time” she promised before was just her taking his coffee order when she bumps into someone.

“We should stop meeting like this.” he says, looking down at her. Surprised, she only manages a, “You—” before they’re both chuckling. “Yeah, we should stop meeting like this.”

“So,” he trails off and, yet again, they share a look. He doesn’t know how long it lasts before she moves, tucking a stray hair at the back of her ear, her soft lashes fluttering as she looks down. His heart threatens to skip a beat but he’s too busy contemplating whether or not it would be appropriate to ask for her number right now. “Listen,” he begins again, mustering the courage to ask the simple question.

“Would you mind if we exchanged numbers?” his pace was slow, almost as if he was expecting to be interrupted. His look wasn’t revealing much, but the lack of his usual smirk was more than enough to say he was anticipating her answer.

She looked a bit stunned, if not taken aback entirely, but she looks down again, this time smiling, and pulls out a table napkin from the coffeehouse, its edges embedded with coffee stains. She pens her number down, the ink miraculously doesn’t smudge but the force of her strokes created an effect that was distinctly hers. “Here.” she hands him the napkin, still smiling.

He inspects the handwriting—neat and clean-cut, her fours are done with two strokes and her sevens are aligned just like his are. The characters of her name are symmetrical: 미미. Mimi.

He doesn’t miss a beat and proceeds to write back his number on a separate table napkin she gives, smirking at this peculiar way of exchanging numbers.

“So, for next time, I’ll text you?” she says, hands holding up her shoulder bag. “I mean, at least let me treat you to coffee.” He couldn’t believe his luck, he immediately said yes. But hoping to keep his composure, he follows with, “Let’s meet back here?”

“No,” she leans in and he thinks he smells a whiff of lavender. “I know a place better than Seoul U’s Coffee.” he could practically see her smirk even as she was tiptoeing to his ear. As she brought herself back to her normal height, he looked at her move, as though her small bounce back to normal footing happened in slow motion.

(Damn Jae and Wonpil—he’s got it bad.)

Before he could say “it’s a date,” she says, “I’m sorry about this time but I’ve a meeting I need to go to,” with her other hand pocketing her phone. He was probably too busy looking at her to notice she had just received a text message. “No, it’s fine. I’m glad we got the chance to talk this time, at least.” he smiles, one hands clutching his thick, leather-bound book, the other tucked in his pants pocket.

“I’ll see you around, okay?” she asks, a few steps away from him, waving.

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” he answers.

A few minutes after she left, he found himself still standing there, eyes looking towards where her figure disappeared. He wondered why he felt the need to store away the image of her back towards him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this, please do drop a kudos to let me know! Also, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	6. Day 4 Excerpt: Team Cheer and Quiz Bee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You ready?" Young K whispers, hand hovering over their buzzer. 
> 
> "Let's win this." Mimi replies before pressing the buzzer immediately after the question was given.

_A/N: As you probably noticed in chapter 3, I made Mimi and Young K's hometowns the same. Although they're different in real life, I made it so just to make writing easier. Hope it doesn't confuse anyone._

* * *

"Alright, all pairs to the front!" The facilitator shouted, gesturing them forward. As Mimi and Young K stepped forward, they looked at the rest of their opponents, the five pairs of freshmen who were equally unlucky to get chosen for this part of the program: the Seoul University Primer Quiz Bee.

"Before we begin, we need you to think of a name for your team and a unique team cheer." As soon as the facilitator said this, groans and laughs were heard from the contestants. "Best team cheer gets a special advantage in the game!" she announces and everyone's expression changes into what could only be described as competitive spirit, including of course, Mimi and young K. "Your five minute brainstorming session begins... Now!"

"Alright, so, any ideas?" She begins immediately, hand at the ready over the paper prop boards given to them. "How about something related to Gangwondo?" He asks, thinking about using an acrostic poem as a cheer. "We could use a _samhaengshi_ *, about what makes Gangwondo, Gangwondo."

She warms up to the idea, smiling as she writes the syllables of her hometown. "Okay, Gang definitely stands for Gangneung Beach, right?" she asks, to which he replies with an affirmative. "Definitely. That's a no-brainer."

"Won?" Mimi asks.

" _Wonhaneun_ _modeun_ _geos_ _-_ _seul_? And everything you want?" Young K quickly says, hands gesturing between them. "Nice it rhymes! Okay, just have to make the last sort of like an answer. Then we can work on the actions."

" _Deo_ ," Mimi mumbles mindlessly, earning a look from Young K. "Hey that doesn't sound bad,"

" _Deo_? More?" she lifts an eyebrow, unsure of writing it down. "More, Gangwondo!" He answers to which her mouth slightly spreads into a smile. " _Deo_ , Gangwondo!" they say in unison, earning the attention of the facilitator. "Looks like one of the pairs have their cheer down! Okay, you guys still have two minutes to catch up!"

_Crap, two minutes? We'll never get the actions done in time._ Young K panics, looking at Mimi finish up writing the characters at their prop boards. "Mimi, what about the—" he starts. "I've got it covered," she turns around and grabs hold of him, leading him to the edge of the stage. Turns out, she's already planned the actions as they made the poem. She taught him the steps carefully, pointing out the transitions and so on. They finished the cheer early, with a little time to spare for a full practice. 

Eventually, when their turn came, their group earned a lot of fanfare from the audience not only because of their interesting visual combination but also because of the facilitator's introduction. "Alright, for the fifth pair, we have Mimi, an architecture major and Young K, a BA major. Let's not forget these two finished the earliest during the brainstorming, quite a couple, aren't they?" The facilitator asks, to which the crowd divides into soft cheers and loud murmurs. "Let's hear it!" 

And so, they settled into position at the center of the stage, prop boards in their hands. "Team! Gangwondo!" they shouted twice, lifting the boards up each time. " _Gang_!" they lifted up the character for "gang." "Gangneung _Bada_!" they moved their hands horizontally across, motioning waves as they shouted, extending the second syllable for the word gangneung.

" _Won_!" again, they yelled in unison.

" _Wonhaneun_ _modeun_ _geos_ _-_ _seul_!" they gestured to the audience using both hands, and brought them back to their chests in a powerful stroke. "Do!" they knelt to pick up the fallen prop boards and lifted them up to make the word Gangwondo. " _Deo_ Gangwondo!" they finished with a flourish and stood up to their batch mates' applause.

While waiting for the other pairs, Mimi and Young K stood by the edge of the stage to give space for the other presentations. "Thanks," Young K told her, leaning a bit towards her. 

"What for?" she turned to him, giving a confused look.

Without missing a beat, he answers, "For the actions. You saved us a lot of time back there."

"Don't worry about it," she seemed relieved, breaking into a full-fledged smile. "I should thank you for the cheer. A _samhaengshi_ was a genius move." she patted his shoulder lightly, then smoothly turned to face the front of the stage where the winner was being announced. Yet the way he smiled at her quick gesture was not lost on her, as she noticed it from the corner of her eye. Interestingly, she found herself appreciating him as a game partner and an acquaintance.

"Alright, all pairs front and center please!" the facilitator instructed, and everyone assembled slowly in front. "I'll let the audience decide! When I name your favorite pair, cheer as loud as you can!"

"Team Double Sciences!" loud applause erupted alongside some loud cheering. Clearly, they were a crowd favorite. "All right, that was a strong contender!"

"Next up, Team Triple H!" the facilitator's voice was quickly followed by moderate cheers from the middle section of the audience. "A good response, okay, next!"

"Team WM!" similarly, there was moderate cheering and moderate applause from the majority of the audience. The pair's cheer dance tactics clearly earned the attention of some.

"Now we have team Hanguk-Namja!" the facilitator didn't even finish her sentence when probably the entire female majority of the audience launched into cheers and applause. "Wow it seems we have the people's choice with the act of these two a while ago!" she said, referring to the commercial skit they reenacted.

"Let's see if the early birds can beat them, let's hear it for Team Gangwondo!" immediately after the facilitator spoke, cheers and hoots and applause broke through from all parts of the crowd. Although not as loud as the two pairs of crowd favorites, it was clear a lot liked their cheer.

"Team Hana Seoul!" lastly, the pair with the drummer act gained moderate cheering and moderate applause.

"It seems we have a tie among Double Sciences, Hanguk-Namja and Gangwondo!" the facilitator said, to which murmurs resounded from the audience, discussions of who they think should be the best pair. "Alright, let's have the chairman of the Freshman Welcoming Committee decide." as she said this, a lean and tall guy started walking up the stage. He work a dark blue turtleneck sweater which complemented his sharp, fox-like facial features. "Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Jinyoung, your Freshman Welcoming Committee Chairman," he began, his voice low and warm. "It seems everyone is divided among the three pairs. Although as I watched, there was a pair that clearly exhibited the wit and excellence of Seoul University students. And that pair is..." he paused, looking between the three groups and then back to the audience. "Team Gangwondo!" he announced, motioning to Mimi and Young K.

Surprised, the two walk towards the center stage as the facilitator called upon them. With a notably large amount of the audience cheering for them, they were awarded a seemingly simple handbook. "This handbook," the facilitator says, pointing to the thin pamphlet in Young K's hands. "Is a handbook of notes and hints for the quiz bee later! It is the only one of its kind and can only be used by Team Gangwondo!" she finishes with a flourish,  not minding the groans and sighs from the other competitors. "Alright, now that we've got our winner, let's set up for THE quiz bee of the semester! Contestants, you have ten minutes to rest and strategize. The rest of the audience may proceed to the canteen for refreshments."

As soon as the break was called, Mimi and Young K went to their usual spot at the side of the stage. Sitting cross-legged, Young K gave the handbook to Mimi. "You read it first, we won't be able to cover the bases if we go by it at the same time." surprised, she says a small thank you, and proceeds to sit beside him. She timed herself to finish in four minutes to give him the rest of the time to read up and for them to have remaining time for a short practice. "Here," she hands it over, their fingers brushing slightly.

The handbook was pretty straightforward, it had details on the history of Seoul University, notes on the different departments, famous alumni and notable landmarks, those kinds of information. Being that they were both from the province, he supposed this handbook would help them a lot if they wanted to win the quiz bee.

After their short practice, the facilitator announced "time's up!" and began calling each team to their individual podiums. "Before we get started, I would like to inform everyone of the prize our winner will receive. The team with the most points by the end of the game will have two front row seats to the University Fest—the concert at the half-way mark of the semester—and an opportunity to view the University Museum before it's grand opening tomorrow!" at this, everyone—even the audience—grew excited and were patiently anticipating the start of the quiz bee.

"Alright, first question," the facilitator immediately picks out a card from her stack of questions and spares a look at the contestants.

"You ready?" Young K whispers, hand hovering over their buzzer. 

"Let's win this." Mimi replies before pressing the buzzer immediately after the question was given. 

* * *

_*_ _samhaengsi_ _\- a three-line poem; it is a "popular word game played at gatherings and entertainment TV shows." (Talk to Me in Korean, 2016)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this, do drop a kudos to let me know! Reviews are also greatly appreciated!


	7. Day 64: Texts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the date is set, and questions are asked.

He was in the middle of a group meeting for their marketing presentation when a text came in. Thankfully, his phone was set in vibrate, otherwise his discreet attempt at smiling at the message ID would have been for naught. 

"Hello, this is Mimi. I hope I'm not disturbing you." was her short message. Even through text, she was polite. He nodded at his groupmate who was discussing the key points of their presentation, pretending to agree to his proposal for a shorter open forum, while stealing glances at his phone as he typed a reply. "No, it's fine. What's up?" he sent the reply immediately, hoping no one noticed that he's had his hands underneath the table for most of the discussion. It wasn't like his groupmates would punish him for not completely paying attention since the meeting was just for formality's sake until their next all-nighter but he's sure they would tease him to no end if they found out he was discussing date plans--at least, that's what he's expecting she texted for.

"I wanted to ask, when are you free? The shop I'm planning on is usually less busy during its afternoon schedule but if you're free on mornings, I could get a word in with the manager. ㅋㅋ" he was caught off guard with the sudden casual tone, but was endeared nonetheless by her laughing onomatopoeia. Smiling, he replied, "I'm usually free on Friday afternoons. But if you're free on mornings, " he stopped, pausing to look up as his name was called.

"Hello? Earth to Young K?" his friend and the group leader, Sungjin, shook him out of his conversation with Mimi. "Are you with us on page 34? We're at the conclusion already." he states, hand stopping mid-way in writing a few words on the whiteboard. "Or are we interrupting your conversation with someone?" their group's second oldest member, JB, piped in, looking at him up and down, a smirk playing on his lips.

He gives his trademark smile, and says, "No, no, I'm all ears, sorry." and proceeds to send his message to Mimi, not remembering that his last sentence was: "I'd take a Monday morning date." 

* * *

"I mean, what does he even mean?" she's still pacing back and forth on their gray carpet, causing Hyojung to look at her with worry. "He says he's free on Friday afternoon but then he's also okay with Monday morning? And then there's the word date!" 

"Come on, Mimi," the redhead sighs, stopping her friend before she burned a hole on their carpet with all the friction of her pacing. "He just gave an honest answer. Besides, the word date is used by everyone for things like these." 

"Things like _these_?" confused, Mimi looks at her with furrowed eyebrows. 

"You know," quick to amend the situation, Hyojung says, "Meetings, engagements, appointments! Unless you were really going for a--" she starts, but Mimi was way ahead of her. "Nope! No! It's just a thank you for what he did back at the orientation." she huffs, hands gesturing all over the place to prove her point. "I swear."

"Okay, okay," Hyojung backs off, standing up. "But now that we're on the topic, what really happened at the orientation anyway?" now Hyojung's the one pacing. Hands at her back, she slowly walks towards their desks, and proceeds to walk back towards their bed. "I mean, a thank you gesture like this wouldn't be warranted just by him telling you it's your turn to walk up the stage or him helping you in the team cheer, right? He did something amazing, didn't he?" she says, looking at her with a sure smile. 

And Mimi rewards her with a genuine smile as well. "Well, not exactly, but a simple thank you wouldn't be enough for what he did."

* * *

"They almost found out I was texting her, thank god Sungjin outmaneuvered JB." he sighs, slumping on their couch. It was game night and Wonpil and Jae were extra early, arriving a little past 8 pm,  bringing the game, chips, and soda. They always held the game at Young K's dorm only because it was clean enough and had the equipment (i.e. the LED tv) for their shenanigans.

"Chill, man," Jae says, from his position in front of the TV, assembling the video game console. "Besides, what you're supposed to be worried about is why she hasn't replied yet. It's been how many hours already?" he targets the question to Wonpil who's situated beside Young K at the couch.   

"About five hours, now?" he supplies, not sparing a look at Young K--he knows he's already got a look of dread all over his face. "Jae-hyung's right. Shouldn't she have replied by now?" he asks the question Young K doesn't know the answer to but doesn't wait for a reply. "She probably got confused by your ending message."

At this point, Young K was contemplating on being in a perpetual state of face-palm or wringing the neck of his two friends, but eventually settled on a simple answer: "I suppose." his lips were formed in a thin line, eyes closing. "Ugh, how could I have been so reckless? Why did I suddenly press send?" he massages his nose bridge, asking no one in particular. But Jae decided to humour him and put on his political science hat once again.

"Because you were excited, my friend. For what, you may ask?" he stands up, finished with assembling all their consoles. "For the date of the century. Yes, you heard it, it's Young K's first date in how many years?" again, he targets the question to Wonpil.

"About five years--there's that number five again," Wonpil replies with a smile, settling himself with the game controller.

"Right, five years! That's almost as long as a drought if you ask me. You have to get back out there, man. I mean, for all we know, that message was a good thing! It showed that you're honest, earnest and most of all, looking forward to the date-or-whatever-you-want-to-call-it," he pats Young K on the back with enough force to have him edging out of the seat. "Besides, I'll bet you next week's game that even if both of you are worried as heck about the standing of this engagement, it'll end with both of you arranging for a second one."

And that's what got him.

"Okay, first of all, the bet's on. Second of all," again, he's contemplating on a face-palm or wringing Jae's neck, but opts to just take up the game controller and press start. "It wouldn't be a bad thing if you won." he murmurs to himself, certain that out of all the bad things that could possibly happen, a second meeting wouldn't be one of them.

* * *

Four and a half hours later, Wonpil is collapsed on the couch, hands still clutching the controller. Jae is busy disassembling the game console when a message notification comes from Young K's phone. He looks around the living room for him, about to call out that someone texted, but he thought to just wait until he comes back from the kitchen. As he's packing up the game set, another ring notifies him of a message followed by yet another one. It isn't unlikely for someone to be texting Young K at this hour and with that many messages but something about the timing piques his interest. Curious, he walks over to the coffee table and looks at the smartphone's screen.

The message ID reads: Mimi.

He breaks out into a smirk and picks up the phone, walking over to the adjacent room where Young K is cleaning up their leftover food. He doesn't say anything, just places the phone on the counter slowly.

"Are you done with the game set--" Young K barely gets out once he sees his phone and the bright screen full of unread messages. Immediately, he reads the message ID, and the preview messages.

> _"I think Monday morning would be..."_
> 
> _"Besides, I was thinking of..."_
> 
> _"If that's okay with you, I mean we..."_  

He smiles to himself, forgetting for a moment that Jae was standing right there. "Dude, you've got it bad." Jae shakes his head, and proceeds to leave the room. He doesn't reply to Jae, and waits until he leaves the room completely to reply to Mimi.

* * *

She always checks her phone before going to sleep but tonight, out of pure exhaustion from the day's events—a Physics test, an esquisse, and a group presentation in their Design I class—she foregoes her bedtime routine and just slumps on the bed, not bothering to change into pajamas.

She was fast asleep when a message notification came.

> _"I'm okay with it. It sounds..."_

The message preview read. 

She would read it the next day but her reply would've still been the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter, do drop a kudos to let me know! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	8. Day 65: Before the Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm not meeting him now," she quickly says, and immediately berates herself for revealing that she's meeting with Young K, albeit not actually using his name. "I mean--" she stammers, intending on rectifying her mistake.
> 
> "Him?" 
> 
> Too late.
> 
> "Who exactly are you meeting?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this, do drop a kudos to let me know! A comment or bookmark is also greatly appreciated!

_A/N: I'm back!_

* * *

She woke up with a start. The first thing she noticed was that she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday. She jolted upright, immediately reaching for the alarm clock, mentally screaming when it read 7:30. Great--she was late for her first class by 30 minutes and Hyojung probably didn't wake her. She would probably say something along the lines of "you looked too peaceful" which, in all probability would've been true given the circumstances of her schedule yesterday.

Without giving her tardiness (this is the third one of the semester--but who's counting anyway?) too much thought, she bolts for the bathroom for a quick shower and after roughly ten minutes, she dresses up in jeans, a sweater, and sneakers. Foregoing breakfast, she rushes to bring her drafting materials and backpack, barely remembering to swipe her cellphone from the side table before leaving.

The College of Architecture wasn't that far from her dorm, but rushing with a canister and t-square in tow isn't a picnic in the park either. Hefting her things over her shoulder every five minutes was tiring enough, she had to deal with the ringing of her cellphone in her pants pocket. Whoever it was, they had impeccable timing. Waiting to reach the front steps of the building, she unlocks her phone, only to be surprised at the 3 missed calls--she probably didn't notice her phone vibrating as she was rushing to class. Seeing the caller ID, she immediately redials the number and waits.

A soft, almost breathless, voice picks up the phone. "Yah!" she whispers, clearly hiding the conversation from their professor in class. "Where are you? We're already passing the mid-term plates!" 

"I'm just outside, JinE, stall her for me, will you?" Mimi all but begs, positioning her phone in the crook of her neck, holding it up by her ear, as she sprints the last steps until the first room at the corner of the hallway.

She opens the door roughly as if she was performing a raid in a police operation and all eyes, naturally, turned to her. "Sorry," she says under her heaving exhales, and after an awkward pause, walks slowly towards the professor's desk, already pulling out her sheets to hand over. "Sorry I'm late, ma'am." her apology came out slow, as if she was expecting to be interrupted by a curt dismissal. But her professor was already inspecting her plate instead, and told Mimi in a rich, firm voice, "I won't accept late works next time, but you barely made it Ms. Kim. Take a seat." Exhaling a breath she didn't know she held in, she thanks her professor profusely and walks back to her seat. 

As soon as she takes a seat, her seatmate and friend, JinE, asks, "What happened to you? You're not usually this late. Did you oversleep?" Mimi knew she was only asking out of concern, but she was also overwhelmed with her questions. She just finished running for almost a half a kilometer and was about to be kicked out of class and now she's being hounded with questions. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," she raises her hands in defense. "Let me breathe first."

"Sorry, it's just unlike you to be late, especially on a day when we have to turn in our plates." JinE looks down, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. She was only looking out for Mimi, she thinks. After all, she's her first close friend since shifting into Architecture. Being that's she's a shiftee from another course, she's older than everyone in their cohort by at least three years. But Mimi approached her on the course's orientation day, all smiles, and continued to talk and meet up with her in the succeeding days and they became close ever since.

"It's fine." Mimi answers, finally able to catch her breath. "I was just so tired from yesterday that I overslept. My alarm probably didn't go off too." she fixes her hair a bit, probably unkempt from the wind breezing through as she ran. "Anyway, what's important is that I made it."

"That's true, but Mimi-ah," she starts. "Don't scare me like that. Answer your phone quickly, next time, okay? I thought you were going to be absent or something." she looks at her in intervals, dividing her attention between Mimi and the blackboard, as their professor was explaining something about building construction. 

"Yeah, no, I'm sorry. You know I usually pick up immediately, right?" Mimi also divides her attention between JinE and her notes, quickly catching up on what she missed. "I'll try to reply immediately next time." she gives a lopsided smile, which JinE returns with a big grin. "Good."

The rest of the class passes by uneventfully until they were dismissed without any assignments and just a simple, "Thanks for the hard work on the plates, class." As they were cleaning their things, JinE casually invites her for lunch at Sunday Co Coffee, a recently-opened coffeeshop a few blocks away from the coffeehouse where she works. Mimi agrees immediately, already run-down and hungry from the 3-hour discussion on trusses and roof design. 

"That discussion wore me out too," JinE says, frowning with furrowed eyebrows. "Besides, the exercise afterward was unnecessary. We just had a mid-term plate, I think truss design is kind of past our coverage, don't you think---" she stops, noticing that Mimi isn't walking beside her anymore.

"Mimi?" she turns around, only to see Mimi at a standstill at the building's entryway. "What's up?" she asks, walking back to her. "Sorry, I just remembered something." she shook her head--clearly focused on something. 

"Is something wrong?" ever the concerned friend, JinE quickly deduces something to be troubling her. "No, not really. I just remembered--you said we're going to Sunday Co?" she faces her, hefting her t-square over her shoulder for the nth time.

"Yes," JinE stretches the vowel, interested on where the conversation's about to go. There wasn't anything special about Sunday Co other than the fact that they both knew one of the baristas and that it's a place they've been frequenting for the past two months. She supposed Mimi remembered meeting someone there later and couldn't go with her for lunch. "I just remembered I have to meet someone there."

There. She knew it.

"Ah, well, it's okay, we can eat there together some other time. Besides, I have to--" before she could finish her sentence, Mimi is already holding up her hands to stop her. "Whoa, wait, we're still eating lunch together." she says, moving a few steps down, so as to not block the doorway.

"Huh?" she tilts her head slightly, following her down the stairs.

"I'm not meeting him now," she quickly says, and immediately berates herself for revealing that she's meeting with Young K, albeit not actually using his name. Nobody knows about him yet, and she intends for it to stay that way at least until she's sure about how she's supposed to even introduce him to them in the first place--only as an acquaintance? As a close friend? Or the plain and simple truth of him being a fellow student she met during the orientation whom she's currently seeing for a meeting (a date?) in the near future? 

"I mean--" she stammers, intending on rectifying her mistake.

"Him?" 

Too late.

"Who exactly are you meeting?" JinE asks point-blank, a smirk playing on her lips. For a moment, Mimi couldn't look her in the eye, afraid that she would reveal everything once they have eye contact--she knows JinE to have that effect on people, to be able to have them reveal something even against their will, she was beyond persuasive at times, she thinks.

After quite a long pause with Mimi looking back and forth at her and the pavement, Mimi finally succumbs, "A guy I met at Freshman Orientation." she says. There. That wasn't so hard--it was the truth but not exactly all of it. She had spared the details of how she had gotten herself into promising him coffee and how she had come to his debt in the first place. Those were details even her roommate Hyojung didn't know--details she didn't intend on revealing to anyone just yet, for reasons she wasn't too sure of either. 

"Oh?" she responds with raised eyebrows. "And you're meeting him when?" 

"I'm not yet sure," she replies immediately, sighing. "I mean," she trails off, biting her lower lip. She looks back at JinE hopeful that they would drop the subject. 

JinE sighs, "It's alright, I'm sorry for prying. I just get so protective of you sometimes." she says, linking their arms together, as she urges her to continue walking. "Besides, who knows what kind of guy he is?" she asks, more to herself than to Mimi. 

But Mimi heard her loud and clear and she is led to wonder the same thing, what kind of guy is he? How would their meeting go? Would he foot the bill? Those kinds of questions raced through her mind until the time they reached the coffeeshop and it was only when JinE told her she was going to order for them that she was struck out of her reverie.

"Alright," she answers, looking back at her friend as she approached the counter. 

Waiting for JinE to finish, she finally checks her phone. To her surprise, she had three missed text messages. The first two's message ID read: Jin-E.

Mimi! Where are you?  
Are you on the way? We're about to pass the plates!

Smiling, she feels a warmth blossom in her chest at JinE's motherly concern. She's only known her for a little over two months, but she's become her closest friend in the whole of their class despite the age difference. In fact, they've managed to reach a consensus that they'll both just use the same honorific in addressing each other. Although, JinE's actions still seem like that of an unnie to her dongsaeng, regardless if Mimi calls her that or not. 

Scrolling down the archive, she finally sees the missed message from Young K. It would have been a lie to say that she didn't immediately bolt upright at that, squaring her shoulders and waiting a while before clicking the message. Reading the previews, it seemed like he wasn't okay with the idea of an afternoon at the library and some coffee but she steeled herself (albeit wondering why she was even nervous in the first place) and proceeded to read their message thread so far.

> _"I think Monday morning would be great."_
> 
> _"Besides, I was thinking maybe we could visit the school library afterwards._
> 
> _"If that's okay with you, I mean we might as well make our morning productive, right?"_
> 
> _"I'm okay with it. Besides it's not like we're going to be rough-housing or anything."_

She felt a smile slowly form on her lips, as she reads his reply for a second time. _He agreed._  she thinks, internally happy that they've finally set a plan after two consecutive failed attempts. Without missing a beat, she types in a reply, only to be interrupted by JinE. 

They share a knowing look and her friend doesn't breach the subject further. She hands Mimi her drink--the Cacao Special--and nurses her own Americano as they both seamlessly fall into a banter regarding their week, ranging from their terror professors at Physics 101 to the recruitments going on at the university organizations.

"You should definitely sign up for The Seoul University Dance Company." JinE leans forward a bit, showing her excitement at the idea of Mimi auditioning. "Me? Audition for SUDC?" if her voice rose a pitch higher, JinE didn't notice. Besides, what was noticeable was the way she suddenly leaned back to the booth's backrest, a clear sign of her disagreement. "I don't think I'm cut out for that just yet."

"Yet! You can try out and if you get in, it can be your chance to hone your skills!" JinE was practically beaming with optimism, leaning closer and closer to her. "I don't know, JinE," she trails off, her eyes boring holes into the depth of her cup, her fingertips absently lingering on the rim.

"Just think about it for now." she says with a sense of finality, giving Mimi a gentle, motherly smile. 

"Okay, I will." she replies, a genuine smile on her lips. Well, if she's being honest, she's been thinking about trying out as well, but the thought of rejection was overwhelming especially since she's only danced in front of a few friends or just on her own, within the confines of a practice room. 

But she does think about it. 

In fact, the next time she does is when a certain brown-haired boy tells her she's got the gracefulness and aura of a dancer, that she should pursue her passion and that her optimism for things should translate well into the audition--not exactly in that order but exactly with the same relevance.

Although she doesn't know all of these yet, she steals a moment away from JinE and finishes her reply to Young K, hopeful and unknowing of what their meeting would have in store for the both of them.

> _"So to recap: It'll be an educational trip to the library plus coffee in the morning? ㅋㅋ"  
>  "Sounds great."_

**Author's Note:**

> A Kim Mihyun (Mimi of Oh My Girl) x Kang Younghyun (Young K of Day6) fanfic, evidently! I know there's practically no following for this pairing but their personalities seemed interesting together, not to mention they slay visually and talents-wise, they're both all-arounders so it seemed like a good decision. Please view my story prettily~
> 
> Also found on AFF and Tumblr!


End file.
